Don't Shoulder This Alone
by The Darkness Factor
Summary: Natasha has to be the one to pick the shield up.


**A/N:** This was another prompt fill (and one where I couldn't resist sneaking in some Widow!Cap).

Prompt: "prompt! brutasha + shared shower"

Hope you guys like it!

* * *

Oddly enough, it's the media circus that happens later that makes Natasha want to scrub herself until her skin burns red.

There's a smoking crater where the Avengers' facility used to stand. There's Steve, unconscious, probably on the brink of death. There's Tony, looking completely frozen and lost, but Natasha has no wish to comfort him. She'll leave that to Rhodes, or Pepper, or someone who is willing to forgive him for hurting Steve Rogers. There's Sharon, with a nasty cut on her head but a look like she will murder the next person to speak to her. Sam and Bucky are kneeling over Steve. Wanda and Vision are near him as well, heads bowed together. Bruce is standing in torn clothes, staring at Steve with a terrible look on his face.

And then there's Natasha herself.

There are probably twenty reporters in front of her, and for good reason. She's holding Steve's shield now (she will never call it hers, not ever). With heavy hands and an even heavier heart, she reaches behind her and attaches it to her back.

The reporters explode with questions, which she doesn't answer until they stop clamoring and are calm enough to ask coherently.

"With the fatal injury of Captain Rogers, are you now taking on the mantle of Captain America?"

"No."

"But you are taking responsibility for the Avengers."

"Yes."

"Do you, as the new leader of this team, have a statement regarding today's apparent victory by Tony Stark and other pro-registration politicians?"

Natasha can't quite keep her bitter smile off her face. "I think that Mr. Stark will have a different opinion after today's confrontation."

"With your headquarters destroyed, will the Avengers continue to combat threats to world security?"

"How else are we going to feed ourselves?" That comment gets a weak chuckle out of the reporters assembled. "No further questions, please - we have clean up to do. This isn't going to be easy for anyone."

She turns away from the assembled reporters, but before she can move away someone else speaks.

"Did you want to receive Captain America's legacy?"

Natasha doesn't turn around.

"No."

* * *

The shield is still on her back when Bruce finds her.

She starts when she feels someone removing it; she almost wants to wrench it away from him, but Bruce only places it reverently beside her feet before he sits next to her, the bed dipping beneath its weight.

"Steve passed ten minutes ago," he tells her.

She should have been there, but she couldn't be because she'd spent the last two hours laying out unconditional terms to Tony, relentlessly using his own guilt to get the rights that powered people need. He had nodded along without speaking as she spoke with a cold voice. They were both acutely aware of the shield still on her back.

Now, Bruce carefully takes her hand and squeezes it. "You think you can get yourself cleaned up?" he asks. "You look like you need it."

It's a reminder of the layer of grime that covers her, and suddenly she wants nothing more than to stand under a scalding hot spray; she nods once, but finds herself reconsidering when Bruce stands to leave her (temporary) room. As another peace offering, Tony had offered up Stark Tower for them to stay in. She might have been suspicious, but she knows that it's genuine.

She's not sure that she can be alone right now, though, and while she and Bruce have a lot to talk about, she doesn't think he would protest. He and Steve were good friends before he left.

"You wanna get cleaned up too?" she asks. "Shower's massive, we'll both fit."

Bruce accepts.

It's a mark of how exhausted they both are that they undress in front of one another. There's no discomfort or lingering looks between them. She peels off her suit and makes a face at the dirt all over her skin. Bruce doesn't have to do much more than shake the shredded remains of his shirt and pants off of his frame.

The shower is, as Natasha promised, huge; they stay on mostly opposite sides while they scrub themselves with soap. Natasha does, however, let Bruce wash her hair when he approaches with the bottle of shampoo and a questioning look on his face. It's women's shampoo but he lets her do the same for him anyway.

They separate again to rinse the shampoo out, but once they do they find themselves gravitating back towards one another. At first, they're just staring at one another; it should be awkward, but it isn't. Then, Bruce steps forward (slowly, giving her plenty of time to move away) and wraps his arms around her. Natasha lets her weight sag a bit and hugs him back, moving one hand up to tangle in his hair.

"I'm sorry," he whispers to her. "God, I'm sorry."

For what, she doesn't know - for the fact that Steve is gone, or because she is now taking over for him? She can never fill his shoes, but now is not the time for doubts. She has a job to do.

Well, later she has a job to do. Right now she could stand to be hugged for a little longer.


End file.
